The robot
Motors, gearboxes, wheels, belts, pneumatics, control electronics and the aluminum and polycarbonate it is all bolted to. More than half the budget goes here.
Sponsor impact
Where the money goes
Antares publishes its budget split so sponsors can see exactly what their contribution funds. These are the planned shares of the 2025-26 expense budget.
2025-26 expense budget
Fifty-five percent of it is the robot
Robot parts, stock materials and equipment together account for 55% of planned spending. The rest keeps students registered, fed, traveling, practicing and reaching the community.
Rounded percentages, totaling 100%. A gift noted “Antares, Team 6962” is a restricted gift: Khan Lab School has to spend it on the Antares program.
In practice
What a contribution buys
A place at the event
FIRST registration and district event fees have to be paid months before the robot exists. Without them there is no season at all.
Getting there and staying fed
Competition weekends are long. Travel and meals keep a large team of students working from load-in to the last match.
The shop
The CNC router, the tooling and the stock materials students practice on before they cut a real part.
Proposed for Antares Mission partners
A hands-on employee robot experience
An Antares Mission partner could host a supervised team offsite built around the Antares robot: a student briefing on how it works and what failed, a safety orientation and supervised driving practice, then short driving and scoring challenges for employees.
This is a proposed concept. Final scope depends on venue, robot availability, a partner team for any second robot, adult supervision and school safety approval.
Support the team
Fund a season
Partnership tiers start at $1,000, and in-kind tools, machining, fabrication and expertise are just as useful as cash.